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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22659373">Midnight and the Time Before</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaydee_Faire/pseuds/Jaydee_Faire'>Jaydee_Faire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy Tactics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, M/M, flowery description of sexytimes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-29 05:34:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>595</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22659373</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaydee_Faire/pseuds/Jaydee_Faire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't their first time together.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mustadio Bunansa/Marach Galthena</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Midnight and the Time Before</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I recently went through the Mustadio/Marach tag on here and discovered that there was only one fic and it was mine, so I decided to add to the list.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The dream began to fade as soon as Marach blinked awake, but the edges of it lingered like rice on the rim of a pot, leaving him with a vague feeling of unease. He turned over, sat up, scrubbed his face with his hands until his cheeks burned and he saw stars. On the other side of the bed, a blond head lifted itself from the pillow.</p>
<p>“Nightmare again?”</p>
<p> Mustadio’s voice was gravelly with sleep, his hair tousled over his shoulders. Marach looked down at him and thought he could look at him like that forever, half-lit by the window, covered in only a sheet. He watched Mustadio turn on his side, watched the way his body moved, watched the sheet slip down over his hip. </p>
<p>Marach shook his head, pushed his hair away from his face with both hands. The jug on the nightstand still held a bit of water and he drank straight from it as he’d seen Mustadio do that evening. It tasted like the city smelled-- of oil and smoke and briny port-- the same taste that was on Mustadio’s skin, that was on his lips. Like a foreign spice it had taken time for Marach to come to like it, then crave it. </p>
<p>He set the empty jug on its stand again, lay down and reached out to take Mustadio’s face in his hands. Still half-asleep, Mustadio closed his eyes and leaned into a kiss that was a soft echo of the harder, hungrier ones they’d shared while shedding clothing and inhibitions while stumbling toward the bed.</p>
<p>They stayed close, lips touching, the only sound the ticking of the wind-up clock on Mustadio’s windowsill. Marach traced his fingers over Mustadio’s hip, the muscled waist. Tonight hadn’t been the first time they’d been together: there had been cramped, hurried trysts in stairwells and in the lowtown, where they’d meant to be looking for a merchant selling needed parts. They’d even shared a bed before, huddled together in tiny, drafty rooms at inns on the long road home from Orbonne. </p>
<p>But tonight was the first time under Mustadio’s father’s roof, with the noise of the city outside the window, with Rapha sleeping in the next room. Tonight Marach had slipped out of his bed and down the hall to where Mustadio waited, had met him in a fervent kiss. Tonight they had muffled moans and whispered curses and eased gently, gently down together, hands and hips trembling with want, so that the bed wouldn’t betray them.</p>
<p>Marach had used to think it would be peaceful, an easy rise and fall bookended by kisses. With Mustadio it was like being dragged through a busy marketplace, full of so many sensations that he felt that if he let go of Mustadio’s hand, even for a moment, he would be lost in it. It was at once beautiful and terrifying, letting someone that close, falling apart in his arms. Often it left him shaking. Once, it left him with his face pressed against Mustadio’s shoulder with tears stinging his eyes. He’d bitten his lip to keep from breaking down, until he’d tasted blood.</p>
<p>Now in the deep hours of the night Marach tangled his fingers in Mustadio’s hair and let out a slow, unsteady breath. Mustadio was coming awake and Marach felt himself craving that closeness with him again, and all that came with it. Coming apart piece by piece, touch by touch, and tumbling into his experienced, competent hands. </p>
<p>The clock chimed midnight and found them together, creating something greater than they were apart.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you like me and my rarepair nonsense, consider discovering my twitter and ko-fi pages by going to jaydeefaire.carrd.co.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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